Acer Iconia Tab A501: Is it Worth 3X the Kindle Fire?

You know that you want a tablet, but you really don’t want to spend $500 or more on an iPad. Does the Kindle Fire deliver enough on the tablet promise? How much do you actually need to spend on a tablet in order for it to meet your needs?

The answer, of course, largely depends upon your expectations and how you define the word tablet. There are plenty of people who already love their Fire – and many others who will enjoy it when they find it under the Christmas tree. But there will also be those who will regret the purchase and learn a lesson that the Kindle Fire cannot deliver for $199 what other tablets offer for $399 or $499. The Blackberry Playbook has dropped to $199. We recognize that mainstream non-iPad tablets may settle in the $200 and below market. However, I am among those who have tried several $200 tablets, including the Kindle Fire, and feel that, at least for now, a tablet selling for $200 does not give me the impression that I have made a smart purchase.

$200 worth of compromise

Let’s be realistic. Even if Amazon loses money on every Fire sold, and if there are admittedly nice touches, you know that this is not a product that is a tablet in the same sense as other products twice its price. The same is true for other noteworthy $200 tablets, such as Pandigital’s 8-inch Supernova. If you assume that Apple is as aggressive on its iPad pricing as it claims to be, and if we consider the economics of scale, then it is somewhat apparent that a full-blown tablet costs about $500 with a minimum amount of flash storage. Drop that price and you will have to accept compromises, dollar for dollar.

In the case of the Kindle Fire, that compromise includes, for example, the lack of cameras, other hardware (such as GPS), and limited, non-expandable storage space. Cloud storage is just a partial replacement in my mind. If you run out of storage space in a few months from now, are travelling and can’t access some data because you could not store it locally, and there is no Wi-Fi at that moment, you are out of luck. You may regret that you have paid $200 for a tablet with limited use. (By the way, I don’t deny that there are many users who are willing to accept those compromises.)

We currently have five $200-or-so tablets in our household. All of them are used by our kids but only for games. (It appears that kids have a particularly strong capability to make these tablets work for them.)  For general web browsing or homework tasks, the kids go back to an actual notebook/netbook. The Fire is the least liked tablet here because of the limited availability of apps.

Lack of hardware limits the availability of apps. No GPS means no Google Maps, which is disappointing. It also means no access to Android Market, at least for now – which means that you may not get those apps others are talking about. Pandigital, for example, resorts to partnering with GetJar, a third-party web store. Amazon, which is building up its own store, has a slight advantage, as Amazon has all those entertainment apps, including its own video rental service, music access and Netflix. Nevertheless, because the portfolio is limited, it is unlikely to ever reach the extent of Android Market. So, if it’s not a fully decked out tablet, you won’t get all the apps. Even then, Android is problematic, as apps are tied to OS versions, which tend to get old quickly. The less you spend, the more compromises you will have to make.

The sweet spot

What is the ideal tablet, if it’s not a $200 tablet? That is a very subjective question that will always get a subjective answer. You will just have to take my word for it. I am conservative with my money. I don’t like experiments and I rarely spend money on things I don’t need. I do not need a tablet either, but I enjoy them for some tasks, such as web content consumption, as well as some apps, which I love and find to be too small on a smartphone screen.

I learned that seven inches are just too much of a compromise for a tablet as far as web browsing is concerned. Eight inches are better, but Steve Jobs had a point when he said that 10 inches are what a tablet really needs. I agree with him. I wanted full Android Market access, but I wasn’t sure whether I needed 3G/4G with a subscription data package with a price I could never justify. It so happens that Acer offered to send me its Iconia Tab tablet for review, which delivered on most of my requests. In addition, it is, as far as I could see, the cheapest Android 3.0.1 tablet out there (yes, it’s already outdated), but you get a 10-inch tablet starting at $400 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi version. Mine was the top-of-the-line 32 GB 4G version for $549 MSRP. For your investment, Acer will give you a device that has Nvidia’s soon-to-be-old Tegra 2 (1 GHz) 250 processor, 1280 × 800 pixel resolution, 10.1-inch TN touch screen panel, dual cameras (5MP/2MP), 802.11n Wi-Fi, full USB port, Micro-HDMI output, Bluetooth 2.1, accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS, digital compass, and memory expansion via microSD, as well as a decent 3260 mAh battery pack.

Five hundred fifty dollars is quite a bit of money, but remember that a 3G iPad 2 32 GB will cost you $729. For the full Android experience plus 4G, the Iconia is about as cheap as it gets right now. I should mention that AT&T will offer a discount on the tablet if you are willing to sign a two-year 3 GB/$35 per month data contract. The Iconia 4G 16 GB is offered for $330 with a $50 gift card at the time of this writing. If you are just an occasional 4G user, you can ignore the contract and simply buy a data plan when you need one. Those plans start at $15 for 250 MB. Skip the contract.

Of course, the Iconia isn’t a free lunch either. There are some downsides.

It’s obviously a tablet, not a netbook.

You are making a mistake if you think that even a high-end tablet will be able to replace your notebook/netbook. I can remember that a few months ago, IBM’s Mark Dean wrote a blog post that, 30 years after the invention of the PC, he was able to switch to a tablet for all his computing needs. Maybe he could, but I doubt that we all can.

Tablets will strike out at tasks at which traditional notebooks excel. Writing or editing a document using Google Docs is a pain in the neck. It will teach you how convenient physical keyboards can be, even if they are now considered to be old-fashioned. Google Docs lacks the necessary touch interface to make text input and editing convenient. There are plenty of occasions on which the virtual keyboard is either blocking the view of items, or you can’t bring it up when you need it. Keep in mind that a tablet is mainly a content consumption device that is best used for apps. Even web browsing and answering email may be done more efficiently on a traditional computer. If you intend to create content on a tablet and like the thin form factor, get an ultrabook.

What $550 will buy compared to $200

The Iconia flaunts a brushed aluminum back that wraps around to the front and converges with the touchscreen on the top and bottom. In terms of hardware, it may not have a Tegra 3, but its overall feature is impressive and only lacks an SD card slot and a removable battery. Subjectively, its design and material choices are among the best in this class. The Iconia certainly does not feel cheap.

The front is dominated by the 10-inch display, the camera and the mic. On the back, there is a 5MP camera plus LED flash, dual speaker grills on the left and right, as well as a docking port. The Iconia has been criticized for its weight – about 1.7 pounds, which is hefty. Rival tablets weigh as little as 1.2 pounds. I suspect that some of the weight is a result of the material choices, but it is surely one of the compromises you have to make over more expensive models. The weight impacts the portability of the device. It is not a product you can easily hold in one hand for an extended period of time.

As expected, I could get access to all the Android apps I wanted with the exception of those that were limited to Android 3.2. If you want to run apps such as Photoshop Touch, make sure you get an Android 3.2 tablet. The battery was impressive. Operating times with occasional usage reached 30 hours, while continuous, heavy usage lasted about six hours.

I deeply appreciated the 4G feature of the tablet. AT&T delivered about 5 Mbps in my area. Over two weeks of occasional 4G usage with some app downloads, email and web browsing, I consumed about 260 MB. The mere act of turning the device on ran through 20 MB initially and kept consuming when it was online. Even under occasional usage, 250 MB per month is unrealistic. You will consume substantially more if you use it as a tablet is meant to be used. The sweet spot may be the 2 - 3 GB. There is no doubt in my mind that AT&T is making a killing on these 250 MB plans. They need to be offering a $10 per month 2 GB plan to make sense out of these 4G tablets and take them into the mainstream.

What you will have to accept

Besides its weight, the Iconia will ask for a few more compromises. The screen isn’t exactly top-notch. Its brightness (322 cd/m2) and black level (0.20 cd/m2) are at the bottom of the field among Android 10-inch tablets, while its contrast ratio (1610:1) is among the best. The resolution is 1280 × 800 pixels, but the viewing angles delivered by the twisted nematic display are not great. The image fades quickly if you are not in direct view. Exposed to bright sunlight, the display is nearly useless. I should also note that the 5MP camera is not the kind of camera you would use for memorable family shots. It is, at best, a snapshot camera for on-screen viewing.

$200 or $550?

Let’s be realistic. Spending $550 is a lot of money for a toy, which is what a tablet really is for most of us. With heavy 4G data usage it can easily cost you another $500 per year. I did not mind the weight of the Iconia and actually liked the substantial feel to it, but it is clearly a device you need to hold in both hands. Its weight will cause some fatigue in your hands after a while of holding it. If price is most important, and you just want a simple tablet, maybe just for your kids, a $200 tablet may make much more sense.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a platform device that delivers the platform idea, you won’t surpass a device such as the Iconia. Pure luxury is 32 GB, but the option of 4G is a convenience factor you should not dismiss. The 16 GB 4G model is selling for about $430 in stores at this time. To me, that is an investment worth considering over a $200 basic tablet.